Joyce wrote recently on Facebook that she and her family have lived peacefully and happily in the North for decades. She indicated that she feels most welcome and safe there based on her experiences with her most accommodating friends, neighbours and acquaintances. Isn't she so damn lucky? I wish she is able to compare notes with writer Jennifer Chinenye Emelife who has also catalogued her own findings.
In response I had pleaded with Joyce to kindly complete the canvas by filling in some anecdotes about Igbo hospitality (or lack thereof) on their home turf. Here I am assuming that the vast majority of Ndigbo are immune to Nnamdi Kanu's stupid(?) quest and methods. If she has not had the fortune (or misfortune) of living for any extended periods in Igboland, she must know those who have. Joyce should tell us their stories. These will make up the building blocks of this Nigerian unity that everyone seems to desire so fervently.
It is heartwarming to learn that her Hausa friend, who works with (or is it for) her is very reliable and definitely not a kleptomaniac. A good many of us have such friends. However there is something else that we would wish to learn from her.
At her age Joyce must have weathered a good number of popular religious/tribal upheavals for which the north of Nigeria is well known. Granted that her "friends" may not have had the inclination to do her and her family any harm, what exactly do they usually do to be safe? Do they boldly step into the street fully confident that they are not the target? Do they feel lucky of blessed that they are not? Without any identifiable tribal marks, how was Joyce, in the heat of battle, able to prove that she was NOT Igbo. Honesty, in the profile picture, she looked just like any other Igbo woman to me. On the other hand, do they simply hide and hope that the whole thing soon soon blows over? Anyway I wouldn't want to be in her shoes at such times. Meanwhile I just cannot fault her love for Northern Nigeria. To do so would be irrational. Even I do have a kind of paternalistic love for the north, the kind one has for a retarded child. I wish I could find some other way. The people of the north deserve better. I wish Joyce luck going forward.
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